Wives & Partners of the Defence Forces in Ireland

As a family of six, the cut to my husband’s wage as a member of the Defence Forces has had a great impact on our lives. We moved in with my parents just before we married. This was to give us an opportunity to save for our own home. Shortly after this the wage cuts came into force and the realisation of this we had no choice but to stay at my parent’s house.

There is no public transport service to my husband’s barracks so therefore we have to run a car. Because of our child having special needs and very few services available, I had to give up my job to give him the support he needs. My husband has to help me in the mornings with our child and to be on time for his work he has no choice but to use the shortest route to work which involves using the toll roads and this is a huge cost to the tune of €80 per month.

We are in huge debt because we have no choice but to borrow money to pay for things such as Communion, Confirmations, Birthdays, Christmas, back to school and much more because we barely make it through the week.

At the time of writing this I and my husband are under HUGE stress of trying to live in someone else’s home and could end up homeless and without hope.

I am fully aware that the restoration of my husband’s wage will not solve our problems but might just give us the breathing space to work on things and give us a chance of a normal family life.